Studying Zoology

ladypage

Hi, I am going into sixth year this year so I am trying to decide what to study at college. I have always been interested in animals and have wanted to study zoology for a few years, however I don't know much about the course in Ireland or what kind of jobs there are. I am interested in lots of different courses but I think I would like this the most as I am interested in animals. Would anyone be able to tell me more about studying it in Ireland -what kind of things you study in the course and what kind of zoology jobs are available.
Thanks very much!
Amy

steddyeddy

ladypage wrote: »

Hi, I am going into sixth year this year so I am trying to decide what to study at college. I have always been interested in animals and have wanted to study zoology for a few years, however I don't know much about the course in Ireland or what kind of jobs there are. I am interested in lots of different courses but I think I would like this the most as I am interested in animals. Would anyone be able to tell me more about studying it in Ireland -what kind of things you study in the course and what kind of zoology jobs are available.
Thanks very much!
Amy

I can tell you about the course in UCD but I think some of the other posters would be better at telling you about trinity and Galway. Zoology in UCD is entered through the general BBB and CCC biology and chemistry science streams. Currently it is around 500 points to get into science at UCD and I don't see that dropping unfortunately.

As regards the course structure you start of with some general biology modules and some general chemistry modules and then come second year you choose three streams, eg zoology, genetics and biochemistry.

In third and fourth ear you specialize in one stream say zoology. In fourth year you will do a research project which will involve traveling to the Mediterranean or some other country and studying the local fauna.

As regards jobs the best way to ensure employment is to volunteer in Ireland or abroad. I have a joint major in zoology and biochemistry specializing in biochemistry so you don't have to stick with zoology. A former UCD zoology student won the congressional medal a few years ago for using gene therapy to cure a dog's eyesight. Another UCD zoologist is an expert in bat genetics and is studying their genome to study longevity (bats live 8 times longer than other mammals of their size).

Here's Emma Teeling aforementioned Bat expert talking about her research into the bat genome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHcTWlxWzpE

ladypage

steddyeddy wrote: »

I can tell you about the course in UCD but I think some of the other posters would be better at telling you about trinity and Galway. Zoology in UCD is entered through the general BBB and CCC biology and chemistry science streams. Currently it is around 500 points to get into science at UCD and I don't see that dropping unfortunately.

As regards the course structure you start of with some general biology modules and some general chemistry modules and then come second year you choose three streams, eg zoology, genetics and biochemistry.

In third and fourth ear you specialize in one stream say zoology. In fourth year you will do a research project which will involve traveling to the Mediterranean or some other country and studying the local fauna.

As regards jobs the best way to ensure employment is to volunteer in Ireland or abroad. I have a joint major in zoology and biochemistry specializing in biochemistry so you don't have to stick with zoology. A former UCD zoology student won the congressional medal a few years ago for using gene therapy to cure a dog's eyesight. Another UCD zoologist is an expert in bat genetics and is studying their genome to study longevity (bats live 8 times longer than other mammals of their size).

Here's Emma Teeling aforementioned Bat expert talking about her research into the bat genome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHcTWlxWzpE

Thanks so much for your reply. Ucd is probably where I would go to study Zoology so that's great. Sounds like an interesting course to study. I don't mind doing the general biology and chemistry as biology is my favorite subject at school
Thanks for telling me about the volunteering, I would like to volunteer now but I'm can't find anywhere I can
do this yet as I'm only sixteen. Would anyone know where I could volunteer? Thank You for the very helpful reply Seems like an interesting course to study.

steddyeddy

ladypage wrote: »

Thanks so much for your reply. Ucd is probably where I would go to study Zoology so that's great. Sounds like an interesting course to study. I don't mind doing the general biology and chemistry as biology is my favorite subject at school
Thanks for telling me about the volunteering, I would like to volunteer now but I'm can't find anywhere I can
do this yet as I'm only sixteen. Would anyone know where I could volunteer? Thank You for the very helpful reply Seems like an interesting course to study.

Cool! Yea Zoology is very interesting and you deal with animal form and function from the bottom up! You could volunteer for fauning int he pheonix park next summer and the Irish Wildlife Trust is always looking for people to do surveys for them. I wouldn't worry about volunteering abroad until you are in UCD but if you feel up to it there are many Dublin based volunteer programs that offer conservation (animal not ecology) as an option but it can be pricey.

ladypage

steddyeddy wrote: »

Cool! Yea Zoology is very interesting and you deal with animal form and function from the bottom up! You could volunteer for fauning int he pheonix park next summer and the Irish Wildlife Trust is always looking for people to do surveys for them. I wouldn't worry about volunteering abroad until you are in UCD but if you feel up to it there are many Dublin based volunteer programs that offer conservation (animal not ecology) as an option but it can be pricey.

Hi thanks for the reply again. Yeah it sounds really interesting I've always been fascinated by animals so I'm sure I would really enjoy it. Do you study much about animal behavior? I'd be very interested in that but I'd like studying anything about animals. Thanks for the volunteering ideas they sound great too!

aidoh

In UCD they have a 2nd year module on animal behaviour. I really enjoyed it anyway.
But as you'll see if you end up studying zoology, each module touches on different aspects of animal biology. So when you study e.g. ecology, developmental biology, genetics, evolution, anatomy - even palaeontology - you'll definitely cover a lot of interesting examples of behaviour as well.
You'll be able to carry out your 4th year research project on whatever you want too, so if you still like behaviour by then you can propose your own project or else whoever the current behavioural biologist in UCD at the moment is will advertise a couple of undergraduate projects in their research area.
Queen's University of Belfast have a great MSc in animal behaviour as well, if you STILL enjoy behaviour by the time you graduate.

If you like biology and wildlife then go for it. The world badly needs more scientists in general and if you enjoy what you do then you'll have a very satisfying few years.